<524 – The Evil Empire that Violated the Taboo>
“Jeto!!”
Ian failed too.
Urges also failed.
Next, the one showcasing their skills isn’t a challenger aiming for the Bivo lying dormant in the Mana Disaster Deep Area but a strong contender targeting equivalent treasures.
It was Sword Thief Jeto, aiming for the strongest lost item located in the deepest part of the Heavenly Barrier.
“A spear, huh? If it’s not a sword, there are limits to my imitation. But… is this all you’ve got?”
Strong contenders comparable to the Empire’s 19 strongest.
To put it differently, while they might be infinitely close to the Empire’s 19 strongest, they were just half-baked individuals who couldn’t surpass them.
Jeto was a master truly determined to kill Rung Nosa, the life thief ranked 10th among the continent’s top ten thieves, on par with the Empire’s 19 strongest.
Even among half-baked individuals, there are levels.
Those looking up to the next realm and those who have already stepped one foot into it.
And those who merely await their turn to leap.
“All I have left is one step.”
Jeto’s hand snatched the spear that brushed past him.
The spear shot forth like lightning, piercing through the surprised eyes of a knight brigade member and sending one of them plummeting.
“Did I take them out?!”
Urges’ curses had barely escaped when several brigade members simultaneously targeted Jeto, hurling focused spears.
Though Jeto’s sword deflected several spears, the dark harpy he rode on was pierced through one of its wings by a spear, sending it crashing down to the ground.
Forget about stepping, those falling below were chased down by some brigade members, yet Urges didn’t have the energy to help Jeto.
“How long are you going to hold back, Ian?!”
“Uhm~ what can I do if I’m just not motivated? We’re not that close, you know?”
There was no sign of a willingness to assist from Ian, who was busy just trying to save himself with a wall of flames.
Though it was truly unwelcome and extremely distasteful, he now had only one lifeline to rely on.
“Charlotte!!”
“Shut up. I’m busy over here.”
The splendid blonde beauty Charlotte, possessing a more alluring figure and sharper looks than the dark harpy tempting men with her beauty.
It wasn’t just her looks that captivated everyone, young and old alike.
With her sword techniques imbued with the radiance of sunlight, five brigade members, entranced, fell around Charlotte, bleeding.
“Extending my domain in aerial combat and striking across coordinates… it was even trickier since it’s the ‘same technique.’ Both of us are equally adept at reading coordinates.”
Charlotte had been continuously reading.
The opponent’s domain.
The principles of the spear attacks they were employing.
It was the same as hers.
A superior version of Warrior Ishtar’s technique.
Unlike the [Holy Mirror], where the starting point and endpoint of the attack are designated, this attack had no precursors, unlike their interrupted strikes.
The high-altitude knight brigade unleashed it through their spears.
Avoiding pre-action behind the wyvern’s back.
Not giving a moment to prepare while leaping through space between spear paths and misleading their defense areas.
They even substituted their movements for the wyvern’s flight, launching one-sided attacks while effortlessly evading the enemy’s strikes from afar.
They established an outrageous combat doctrine that completely overcame the disadvantages of swordsmen, spearmen, or close-combat weapon users.
That’s why she could read where to strike and where to dodge for the greatest gain.
She had indeed fought on the ground but understanding a three-dimensional battlefield called ‘sky’ took time, but once she understood, there was no going back.
“The Foundation’s Agassi stands on the blood of other ladies. I must grow stronger to bear the weight of all lives I have taken down by my own hand.”
Thus, not a single point of hesitation would stop her.
She would leap over any obstacle.
Battles in the sky, surprise attacks from spearmen using the same methods, even the wyverns boasting glorious evasion paths.
“Get back. You’re not my opponents.”
“You’re a notable strong one.”
“Everyone has a name.”
“Whether it’s worth listening to, I’ll decide that.”
“Yeah, was it worth it to me?”
“Yeah. So say it.”
The brigade members Jeto thought he had taken down staggered as they retreated.
Even that was annoying like a thorn in his eye, but the largest wyvern that stepped forward to protect all of them, along with the knight mounted upon it, was even more bothersome than all of them combined.
“As soon as we return from the expedition, I never expected this kind of heavy labor to greet me.”
The man complained while brightly shining his blue eyes from beneath his helmet, elegantly holding a spear diagonally across his arm.
“Sky Knight Dmitri. The captain of the High-Altitude Knight Brigade and the first seat of the Sword Thief. I’ll introduce myself as one of the mightiest contenders, competing with the best in the Empire. Young man, what’s your name?”
“Charlotte. A third-year student on leave from the Academy and the successful Bivo recoverer from the depths of the Mana Disaster. I’m so well-known among my guardians as the cool beauty princess knight.”
“Cough.”
Dmitri momentarily lost his composure and coughed due to Charlotte’s brazenly shameful wording.
Seizing on that brief moment of instability, Charlotte’s [Bivo] sparkled.
The three consecutive strikes targeting Dmitri’s left shoulder, elbow, and wrist were sharply deflected, with countless points of impact piercing through his senses.
“The peak strength comparable to the Empire’s 19 strongest!”
Dmitri was astonished by Charlotte’s skill.
The 7 successive strikes from behind, 13 alternating strikes from below, and 5 upper strikes were all feints.
The real threat was the three strikes targeting his arms and the killing intent aimed at the same area, not a mere illusion.
Even though he knew, the killing intent directed elsewhere continued to shoot at different locations.
Charlotte was saying.
No matter which direction or aspect of the attack, it would ultimately target your arms.
But if even once an exception occurs, you will have to pay the price.
So, what will you do now?
Will you adhere to the answer sheet and defend against only the attacks aimed at your arms?
Or will you remain in an unstable position to conserve energy and counter which attacks from other directions?
Even being aware of the enemy’s aimed direction, Charlotte’s merciless psychological warfare, devoid of blood or tears, surged fiercely.
Dmitri, for a fleeting moment, ceased discerning whether every attack was psychological warfare or the truth.
[All-Around Ultra-Dense Domain Expansion]
[Guardian Strength Enhancement]
If he couldn’t discern, he would block it all.
Amidst the escalating fights, Dmitri found an answer.
Charlotte’s sword was still elusive.
However, he understood.
The limits of the dark harpy supporting her.
Before the suffocating sword attack could choke him, the dark harpy sliced by Dmitri’s sword crashed down.
In that chaotic context, he had no intention of risking a loyalty showdown against Dmitri, the enemy’s lieutenant, as he gracefully followed Charlotte to the ground.
“That’s enough. Farewell, misfits.”
Quietly pretending to be wounded, Urges attempted to descend while luring only a few knights. Suddenly, he saw the surrounding scenery swiftly disappearing.
“?”
“I forgot to mention, you can’t stray more than 100 meters from me.”
Even while plummeting to the ground, Charlotte babbled brazenly.
“Bullshit!”
With a teleportation maneuver activated using a lost item, Urges reappeared right in front of Charlotte.
[Forced Recall]
Cold sweat beaded on Urges’ forehead.
It wasn’t because he was itching to pierce a spear through their bodies, being frustrated by the high-altitude knight brigade.
He fathomed the implications of Forced Recall.
“You know, Forced Recall is typically a spell that can’t be cast on living creatures.”
“You placed an incantation of summoning on my body…? Am I, the undead who died and got resurrected?!”
“Quit your whining. The treatment was done by Professor Sadako directly, earning points. So just comply before I make you a zombie or skeleton by rotting your skin.”
The first-year Dark Princess Oknodie of the Foundation was quite the capable kid but still needed some levels to reach that standard.
To be a senior, one must at least meet the practicality of being able to use the dead efficiently.
Charlotte leveraged Urges, who was lamenting, while facing the chase.
“Haha. What a mess.”
Ian remarked, looking at the scattered team.
The mission to rescue Oknodie was indeed urgent.
*
Sword Thief Jeto, who had either cut down or evaded the pursuing high-altitude knight brigade, kicked aside a wet Imperial Newspaper with his shoe, propelling it to spread out, shaking off the moisture instantly.
December 25.
The birthday of the one and only Goddess Sofemia.
By now, the Academy was either reaching the end of the second semester’s final exams or completely over.
Standing tall in the alley behind the Jeido, he contemplated.
Should he contact the Dark Trading Company at the newsstand?
Should he reach out to the Thief Guild at the tavern?
Or should he make contact with the remnants of the Revolutionary Army, inscribed with codes?
His choice fell on the latter.
“Desperate people don’t choose whose hand they take.”
“Are you saying you can help us?”
“The Dark Princess Oknodie, who destroyed the Revolutionary Army. If you want to draw her outside of the Hwanggung, you must cooperate fully with me from now on.”
The Revolutionary Army, stripped of their revolutionary and yet disorganized, was not a weak force merely dismissed even by the Thief Guild.
Even after losing their revolutionary, they could still guarantee minimal operational capacity for a time.
At least, they would be more useful than gathering ragtag terrorists.
“?”
Jeto thought this way until he discovered something in the Revolutionary Army’s stockpile.
“What the hell is this?”
Girl’s white teddy bear panties.
Children’s thermal cloak.
Blue frilly ribbon with a white dress.
Girl’s white socks.
Every single one was an item meant for girls.
In the Revolutionary Army’s warehouse, items such as military equipment, armor, or assassination tools that should have been expected were in boxes for clothing, stuffed in some corner and practically invisible.
“What the hell are these?”
The frantic Revolutionary Army warehouse keeper waved his hands.
“It’s a misunderstanding! We are not a dark pederastic group! We didn’t acquire these girl’s gear for selfish desires!”
“Explain. So I can comprehend.”
“The Revolutionary Army, having lost its revolutionary, had to earn operational funds. We merely followed market currents, engaging in trades that do not counter the trends. There’s a shortage in the market, and girl’s gear is selling like hotcakes!”
The desperate explanation from the Revolutionary Army, mistaken for a pedophile group, gave a different, chilling meaning to the senior academy student.
“How much of the clothing was sold in one go?”
“About 200,000 items were released into circulation as initial stock and the follow-up production of thousands are being sold out as soon as they come out. This was all done by quickly marketing the revolutionary equipment in our warehouse!”
The fear Jeto hadn’t felt, even while being chased by the high-altitude knight brigade, filled his heart.
“How many annual girl’s clothing sales are estimated in the Jeido?”
“There are many floating populations, but those upper-class populations who can afford to pay high prices for children’s clothing remain fixed. An estimate would be roughly 200,000.”
“Is there a reason that many individuals would rush to buy a single item?”
“There’s none.”
“Then there’s only one reason.”
“Don’t tell me…”
“Yeah. The Empire has begun to dabble in the taboo.”
Jeto was convinced.
“Homunculus.”
The Empire was getting involved in the mass production of homunculu sized for girls.
